Deal on former Fall River police station not finalized yet

The Fall River Redevelopment Authority, acting as the middleman in the sale of the Abbey Grill and Bedford Street police station, unanimously approved the single bids for both vacant properties in May, but while the deal for former 19th Central Congregational Church at 100 Rock St. is complete, the police station remains unsold.

The Fall River Redevelopment Authority, acting as the middleman in the sale of the Abbey Grill and Bedford Street police station, unanimously approved the single bids for both vacant properties in May, but while the deal for former 19th Central Congregational Church at 100 Rock St. is complete, the police station remains unsold.

Last week FRRA attorney John Coughlin, after an inquiry as to the status of the sale of the police station by Vice Chairman Anthony Cordeiro, said the deadline for sole bidder Joseph Ruggiero Sr. to close with the city expires in September.

“He has been sent notice the bid was awarded to him,” said Coughlin, “that he needs to sign a purchase and sales agreement and to have his attorney contact. There’s been no response.”

On Monday, Ruggiero said he was in the process of purchasing the building.

“There’s no reason to stop, I saw the mayor (Will Flanagan) last week at a function and I told him that,” Ruggiero said.

The request for proposals for bids of at least $70,000 for the Abbey Grill and $60,360 for the police station was publicized in March and in May FRRA accepted the $72,000 bid from Cranston, R.I. resident Andrew Lombardi for the Abby Grill and Ruggiero’s bid, who lives in Barrington, R.I., of $60,360.

In Ruggiero’s bid proposal, he indicates he plans to demolish the old building to make way for a parking lot.

While the RFP states the property is sold “as is,” Ruggiero hand wrote on the application he was requesting assistance with asbestos and environmental cleanup.

Getting rid of the old police station has proved challenging for the city. Last used as police headquarters 16 years ago, the history of selling the old police station dates back to 2006-07.

It was Cordeiro who bid $25,000 and planned to knock it down and invest millions for a two-story office building and three-story parking garage.

Instead, the city sold it to John Pavao, a former city resident, for $160,000, who never developed it. He was later convicted in a Florida mortgage scheme and sent to jail. The building was returned to the city.

Flanagan said he is still committed to selling the police station and said the city will have several options if the closing date expires without Ruggiero signing a purchase and sales agreement. One option is offering it to Ruggiero at a later date.

It was Flanagan who reportedly asked Ruggiero to purchase the police station. In May when the bids were open, Flanagan told The Herald News he showed Ruggiero the station that week and called him again at 5 a.m. on the deadline day to submit bids and to say the city “needed help with the police station.”

Ruggiero, a well-known businessman who purchased First Ford and sold the former Regatta Restaurant, said his intention in purchasing the police station was to help the city, calling the old structure “a catastrophe.”

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Flanagan said Ruggiero did have the contingency in his bid to have the city assist in the clean-up and, since then, the mayor has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency to work on getting grants to help with the clean-up.

Originally Flanagan said before the sale goes through, he planned to use a $400,000 Brownfields Assessment grant the city received a year ago from the Environmental Protection Agency meant to help communities redevelop contaminated sites.

On Monday, Flanagan said he discovered that the grant can’t be used to remediate the police station because the city was the polluter.